All the $758 million taxpayer-funded agency wants to do is serve the public. But sometimes, the public can be so unreasonable.

We might, for instance, want to know how our tax money is spent.

Outraged at that audacity, the district is turning to intimidation. How else can we describe the district's threats to subpoena personal emails, letters and memos of citizens who dared — dared! — request information about a pivotal meeting that led to an out-of-court settlement with billionaire owners of the controversial Lake Point rock quarry in Martin County?

The Lake Point saga began in 2008 and led to an avalanche of litigation, including a 2013 lawsuit against the district for breach of contract. Following an Aug. 23, 2017, closed-door meeting, the district announced it would settle, agreeing to buy 50,000 tons of rubble annually for 15 years and giving Lake Point the right to mine rock for 50 years before turning over the land to the state.

The deal raised eyebrows and led the nonprofit Everglades Law Center to file a public records request, seeking transcripts of the Aug. 23 meeting and other closed sessions. Two months later, a second request was filed by Maggy Hurchalla, a former Martin County commissioner who had been sued separately by Lake Point.

The district provided several transcripts but balked at providing the Aug. 23 records. Then, in an extraordinary move, it sued the law center and Hurchalla, asking a judge to rule the records could stay secret. Earlier this year, the judge did so, saying state law permits public agencies to keep “mediation” discussions under wraps.

Several public-records experts dispute this interpretation. The Everglades Law Center said it will appeal. Yet even if the courts ultimately decide the transcripts aren’t public record, surely the public has a right to ask for the information.

District disagrees

The district begs to differ. After the law center and Hurchalla filed their requests, 16 other district residents asked for the Aug. 23 transcripts. One said citizens thought multiple requests might carry more weight than a single query.

But the district, calling them “suspiciously identical,” suggested in court filings they were part of an orchestrated campaign to trick the agency into violating Florida’s public records laws.

This “may have been to cause the district to slip up in how it handles requests, or maybe we would miss a request,” district attorney Brian Accardo said in a March 8 board meeting.

The district had means to retaliate because of a 2017 change in Florida law requiring a requester to pay attorney fees if a judge decides the request is frivolous.

The district demanded Hurchalla and the law center turn over all Lake Point-related communications and personal emails to and from the 16 residents. If they won’t, the district said it would subpoena those 16 citizens, seeking all Lake Point communications with Hurchalla or anyone else.

So far, the district’s demands have been stymied by legal objections. Activists say if subpoenaed, they’ll comply.

But this whole charade is ludicrous. By going after citizens who sought transcripts, the district is seeking to intimidate them into silence.

There was nothing “frivolous” about their requests. Due to the contentious nature of the project and litigation surrounding it, there's a legitimate interest in finding out why the district chose to settle.

The district needs to drop its crusade, now. And it needs to knock it off with the adversarial approach.

Treasure Coast Newspapers and the Daily News are part of the USA TODAY NETWORK–Florida.